Want to win? Use strategy

Video poker offers highest payback.

May 9, 2008|By Nick Sortal Staff Writer

There's poker. There's slots. Then there's video poker - the best of both worlds.

Casino experts say video poker provides the highest payback on your dollar, if (big IF, see box at right) you play the correct strategy. Some Las Vegas machines, which the casinos operate as loss leaders, have a payback rate of more than 100 percent. In South Florida, they often pay back about 96 percent, about 5 percent better than conventional slots.

Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino earlier this year created a video poker and low-denomination slots area on the first floor where horse-racing fans congregate and can play between races. Of the casino's 822 machines, 113 are for video poker, Gulfstream slots manager Mike Couch said.

The game is especially popular with the mathematically inclined. Because you see the payout table on the front console of each machine, astute video poker players can figure out what percentage of their investment they get back. For example, a machine that pays 8 to 1 for a full house will return 1.1 percent more over time than one that pays only 7 to 1.

They play by the charts that are printed in books and on the Internet. The charts prescribe what cards to throw away and what cards to keep, such as whether to break up a pair of queens in your quest for a flush (don't do it).

By the way, the chances of hitting a royal flush? One every 40,000 hands.

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INFORMATIONAL BOX:

VIDEO POKER TIPS

Video poker has several varieties beside the classic Jacks or Better machines, including some that use jokers or deuces as wild cards. Among the playing points offered by experts:

Never keep a kicker. If you have a pair, never keep an unpaired high card, known as a kicker. It just cuts into the number of cards you can draw.

Never draw to an inside straight of low cards. The odds of hitting it are 12 to 1; it usually pays only 4 to 1. If you have three high cards to an inside straight, it's OK, because then you also could hit one of them to have a high pair.

Most machines offer a much higher jackpot for hitting a royal flush if you bet the maximum, so always do so. For example, a quarter machine may pay $62.50 on a 25-cent bet, $125 for a 50-cent bet, but $1,000 for a $1.25 bet. If the maximum bet is too high, play a lower-denomination machine. (Gulfstream has added nickel video poker.)

Check out a strategy chart before you play, and even bring one with you to the casino. (It's legal, but discretion is advised.) Trusting your memory when you're figuring out which cards to play can cost you.

Check the payout schedules on each machine. Some casinos have higher-paying machines next to lower-paying ones. Full-house and straight payouts especially vary.

Kings, queens and jacks are more valuable than aces because you can make a straight off them in either direction.

Low pairs have more value than you think. (On the basic machine, you get paid only if you have a pair of jacks or better.) You could either draw a third of a kind to your pair, or draw a second pair, and be a winner.